By The Editors

A federal appeals court Monday upheld a lower court ruling that barred the central provisions of a controversial Arizona immigration law from taking effect.

The decision was the second judicial victory in the case for the Obama administration, which opposed the bill as an encroachment on federal authority. Among other things, the legislation would have required police officers to stop and question about their immigration status people they have a “reasonable suspicion” are undocumented immigrants. Opponents of the legislation, enacted last year and known as S.B. 1070, contended it would lead to racial profiling of anyone who looked to be Latino.

The decision came on a 2 to 1 vote of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco.  However, the measure does not strike the law down. Rather, it stays its enforcement until a final decision on its constitutionality is reached.

That will come from the U.S. Supreme Court, to which Arizona Governor Jan R. Brewer, a supporter of the law, is certain to appeal.

The Arizona law provoked a national furor when enacted last year because, among other provisions, it declared that police could arrest people without warrant if they believed those individuals had committed offenses that would allow them to be deported; that they could hold individuals in custody until their immigration status had been determined; and that all non-U.S. citizens had to carry federal documents proving they were in the country legally.

Arizona’s action encouraged legislators in several other states to introduce legislation with similar provisions intended to drive undocumented immigrants from within their borders.

However, the Arizona law also provoked a widespread economic backlash against the state. It was denounced by Latino organizations and civil liberties groups as well as politicians. Almost immediately, individuals and entities across the country ranging from municipal governments to unions, trade associations, nonprofit organizations and businesses cancelled plans to vacation or hold meetings in the state.

A report published late last year found that the reaction had cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars last year alone in lost jobs, wages, and tax revenues and that the losses would continue if S.B. 1070 were allowed to take effect.

That economic calamity, with the prospect of more to come, led leaders of Arizona’s business community to warn state legislators earlier this year against enacting a new batch of harsh immigration measures that were up before the State Senate. Their efforts were bolstered by an additional report showing both the economic consequences of the boycott and how important undocumented immigrants were to the state’s economic well-being.

As a result, the Arizona Senate rejected all five of the measures, a sharp rebuke to State Senate President Russell Pearce, the chief sponsor of S.B. 1070.